One-eyed Victorious wins Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot

Victorious turned a one-eyed challenge into a statement win at Royal Ascot, powering away in the Queen Mary Stakes to score by 2 lengths in 59.19 seconds over 5 furlongs on good-to-firm ground. The unbeaten filly, blind in her left eye, handled the straight-course juvenile test far better than the 27-runner field around her and gave Aidan O’Brien his 99th Royal Ascot winner.

The significance goes beyond the novelty. A straight five-furlong race at Ascot asks for immediate balance, traction and acceleration, and Victorious supplied all three. She had already won twice at Naas, including a Group 3 over 6 furlongs, before being cut back in trip, and that sharper turn of foot showed when Ryan Moore asked her to quicken in the final stages. By then, the race was already tilting her way.

She is by Wootton Bassett out of Heaven On Earth, and the pedigree fit the performance. Victorious travelled strongly before producing the decisive burst that separated her from the rest, a professional run from a filly who had never tasted defeat before this meeting. The Queen Mary has a history of producing elite juvenile fillies, and this one looked every bit the part, winning the opening race on the June 17 card with authority rather than drama.

Senorita Bonita finished second, while Ruiva was third for Wesley Ward and the best-placed American runner. That made the result even more meaningful for the international shape of the race, but there was no mistaking the winner’s superiority. O’Brien had captured the Queen Mary only once before, with True Love in 2025, so Victorious gave him back-to-back wins in the race and moved him within one of a century of Royal Ascot victories. The winner’s purse was listed at about £99,242.50, but the bigger number was the one on O’Brien’s record: 99 and counting.